Born: 11 April 1970

Birthplace: Ansan (Korea / South Korea)

Nationality: Korea / South Korea

Sport: Badminton

ATTENDANCE AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Barcelona 1992

Atlanta 1996

AWARDS

Olympic medals:

Gold: 1

Silver: 1

Bronze: 1

Other results:

World Championships

Gold: 1 (95)

Bronze: 2 (91, 935)

Doubles specialist

When badminton was accepted as an Olympic sport for the 1992 Barcelona Games, doubles specialist Young-Ah Gil was in position to take advantage of the opportunity. She and her partner, Shim Eun-Jung, had earned bronze medals at the 1991 world championships and they repeated their performance at the Olympics, as fellow Koreans, Hwang Hye-Young and Chung So-Young took the gold. At the 1993 world championships, Gil teamed with Chung and she placed third again. Gil switched partners once more, joining with Jang Hye-Ock. Gil and Jang won the 1995 world championships, coming from behind to defeat an Indonesian pair in the final. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Gil and Jang qualified for the final, but lost to the Chinese pair of Ge Fei and Gu Jun. For the 1996 Games, mixed doubles was added to the Olympic program for the first time. Korea (South Korea) entered two teams, Gil and Kim Dong-Moon, and Ra Kyung-Min and Park Joo-Bong. The day after Gil earned her silver medal in women's doubles, she and Kim faced Ra and Park in the mixed doubles final. Ra and Park led the first game 9-5 and 14-9. Gil and Kim closed to 14-13 before succumbing 15-13. Gil and Kim won the second game easily, 15-4, but the tiebreaker was full of drama. Ra and Park took a 10-5 lead, but Gil and Kim gradually fought back to an 11-11 tie. The two sides traded points before Gil and Kim moved ahead 14-12 and then converted their second match point.